The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

August 1, 1918

Effects of the privation of Jesus.

I go on in the midst of privations and anxieties, and I often lament to my sweet Jesus. And He came; and drawing close to me, clasped me to His Heart and told me: "Drink from my Side!." I drank the Most Holy Blood which poured from the wound of His Heart. How happy I was! But Jesus, not content with letting me drink the first time, told me to drink a second time, and then a third. I remained amazed at His goodness - that, without my asking, He Himself wanted me to drink.

Then He added: "My daughter, every time you remember that you are deprived of Me and you suffer, your heart is wounded with a Divine wound which, being Divine, has the virtue of being reflected in my Heart and of wounding It. This wound is sweet - it is balm to my Heart, and I use it to soothe my cruel wounds which creatures make Me – the wounds of their indifference, of their scorn toward Me, reaching the point of forgetting about Me. So, if the soul feels cold, dry, distracted, and she suffers about it because of Me, she remains wounded, and she wounds Me - and I feel cheered."